DFDS A/S signed an agreement with the family-owned company Simonsen Holding on 9 December 2005 to buy out the remaining 34% of the shares in the Norwegian companies Lys-Line AS and DFDS Lys-Line Rederi AS. DFDS A/S now owns 100% of the share capital in both companies.
”The share purchase will facilitate further synergies between the various DFDS Group companies and increase DFDS Tor Line’s development potential, in particular providing efficient maritime transport solutions based on combined sideport/container ships and Lo-Lo and Ro-Ro tonnage,” comments Ole Frie, Managing Director of DFDS A/S. ”We want to expand Lys-Line’s tramp and container activities through organic growth, alliances and acquisitions. In addition to the geographic areas in which we already operate, we are also interested in Lo-Lo shipping opportunities in the Baltic,” he adds.
Lys-Line AS will change name to DFDS Lys-Line AS and adopt the DFDS Group logo. The main shareholder in Simonsen Holding AS, Morten Simonsen, will continue to sit on the board of both companies. The management of both companies will remain unchanged.
Lys-Line operates a total of 21 ships and has an annual turnover of approx. NOK 1 billion. It has a large, modern container fleet of 1,850 containers, including 600 45’ containers, at its disposal. The organisation has 150 employees spread between the HQ in Oslo and subsidiaries in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain and Ireland.
Since it was founded in 1969, Lys-Line has become an important business partner for major Norwegian and Swedish industrial groups, primarily in the paper and metal industries. Most of the paper is transported by combined sideport-/container ships operating between the west coast of Norway, the Oslo Fjord, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and Spain. The company also operates a liner service between Oslo Fjord, Hamburg and Rotterdam with two newly built, chartered 750-teu container ships. In addition, it is involved in large-scale charter and tramp activities in Europe, including the Iberian Peninsula and destinations in the Mediterranean.
For further information please contact Managing Director Ole Frie, direct phone +45 3342 3400 or mobile +45 4031 8060